Written Answers Wednesday 18 February 2009

Scottish Executive

External Relations

Bashir Ahmad (Glasgow) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what delegations it will be sending abroad in 2009.

Michael Russell: Ministers have agreed to undertake the following overseas visits:

  North America – The First Minister will travel to Washington DC this month in support of the Scottish Government’s promotion of the year of Homecoming. He will take part in a major symposium on the life and works of Robert Burns, featuring leading Scottish and American academics and scholars.

  China – The First Minister will visit China in April and a comprehensive programme of events will be announced in due course. He will be accompanied by the Cabinet Secretary for Education and Lifelong Learning.

  Ministerial diaries are subject to parliamentary and other pressures and therefore often subject to change. Further details of each visit will be announced in due course.

International Development

Pauline McNeill (Glasgow Kelvin) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-20223 by Linda Fabiani on 4 February 2009, when it will announce its final decisions on applications for funding from Scottish-based organisations that wish to assist in providing emergency relief in Gaza.

Michael Russell: Details of the Scottish Government’s assistance to Scottish Non-Governmental Organisations for their relief efforts in the humanitarian crisis in Gaza were announced on Sunday 15 February 2009.

  Further information on the successful projects can be found on the Scottish Government’s website at http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Government/International-Relations/internationaldevelopment/idffundingguidance/gaza.

Justice

Richard Baker (North East Scotland) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what its assessment is of Operation Cougar in tackling gang culture in Manchester, as reported by the Home Office on 29 January 2009.

Kenny MacAskill: The Scottish Government welcomes the efforts taken by others to tackle gang violence and is interested in any initiative that has a positive impact. We are therefore looking carefully at Operation Cougar and will consider what action, if any, could be replicated in Scotland. In the meantime, we are continuing to take direct and innovative action to tackle this problem. The next phase of the Violence Reduction Unit’s anti-violence campaign in March will see the police across Scotland delivering intelligence-led co-ordinated action on gangs, and the groundbreaking Community Initiative to Reduce Violence (CIRV) project currently being delivered in Glasgow, for which we are providing £1.6 million funding, is providing coordinated and intensive services to over 700 gang members to encourage and support them change their lives.

Justice

Jamie Hepburn (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether there are circumstances under which Scottish ministers can act as bail guarantor for Scottish citizens under criminal charge in foreign jurisdictions and, if so, what they are.

Kenny MacAskill: No, there are no such circumstances.

Mental Health

Jackie Baillie (Dumbarton) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will develop a national mental health service for deaf people and, if so, what the timescale will be for achieving a service agreement to that effect.

Shona Robison: Mental health services for those with sensory loss continue to develop and improve. For example, a new dedicated community service and a deaf counselling service are now operational and have been well received by service users in Lothian. National access to specialist in-patient services when needed is long established through referrals to the John Denmark Unit in Manchester with attention to transitions a feature of the care pathway.

  We are examining with partners the merits of a Scotland-based in-patient facility and how to further improve regional specialist community services.

Student Finance

Hugh O'Donnell (Central Scotland) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-20187 by Fiona Hyslop on 3 February 2009, whether it can confirm that no student debt has been transferred or sold since 1999 and how much it received for the 1999 sale.

Fiona Hyslop: Further to the answer to question S3W-20187 on 2 February 2009 I can confirm that no further student loan debt has been sold or transferred since 1999.

  The then Scottish Executive received no additional Barnett provision as a result of this sale.

  All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/Apps2/Business/PQA/Default.aspx.